27

choice from among several possible translations can affect cross-cultural comparability.

The culture effect is more pervasive than the translation effect. This presents a more serious problem for the cross-country application of IAS than ıf the opposite were true. Further research should be conducted to determine whether this effect holds for other language­

cultures. If so, then true harmonization of accounting may require the IASC to avoid the use of

vague uncertainty expressions in developing International Accounting Standards.